Tom Craddick

Early career

While he was a doctoral student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Craddick decided to run for the legislature to succeed the incumbent Republican Frank Kell Cahoon of Midland, who was not seeking a third two-year term. According to Craddick's official biography, even his father, businessman R.F. Craddick (1913–1986), warned him: "Texas is run by Democrats. You can't win." Although this part of Texas had become very friendly to Republicans at the national level (portions of this area, for instance, supported Barry M. Goldwater's 1964 presidential run, and Midland itself has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1948), Democrats held most offices at the local level well into the 1980s.

Nonetheless, the Eagle Scout was elected to the Texas House in 1968, one of eight Republicans in the chamber at that time. His victory came on the same day that Richard M. Nixon was elected as U.S. President.

In 1972, Craddick and former State Representative Frank Kell Cahoon encouraged Ernest Angelo, Craddick's neighbor, to run for the position of mayor of Midland being vacated by Edwin H. Magruder, Jr. Mayor Pro-tem Pat M. Baskin, the former chairman of the Midland County Democratic Executive Committee, also filed to run. Craddick believed that Baskin if elected would use the mayoral office to attempt to derail Craddick's bid for a third term in the state House in the general election scheduled for November 7, 1972. Angelo agreed to run for mayor if Cahoon would seek one of the at-large city council seats. The deal was struck, and both won their races. Craddick thereafter was elected to his third term in the House.

In 1975, Craddick was named chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, the first Republican to have chaired a Texas legislative committee in more than a century. In Texas, a legislator need not be in the majority party in order to chair a committee.

Speaker of the House

On January 11, 2003, after thirty-four years in the House, Craddick became the first Republican Speaker in more than 130 years. He held the presiding officer's position for six years.

In December 2006, Craddick faced a credible challenge to his re-election as Speaker for the Eightieth Texas Legislature. Brian McCall (R-Plano) and Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie), as well as Democrat Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) all of whom announced candidacies for the speakership. In early January, McCall withdrew and endorsed Pitts. Supporters of Pitts pressed for a secret ballot in order to avoid retribution should their efforts fail, while Craddick had maintained all along that he had more than the minimum number of votes needed for re-election. When the secret ballot measure failed, Pitts withdrew, and Craddick was re-elected to a third term as Speaker on January 9, 2007, by a vote of 121-27.

In January 2009, Craddick was finally ousted as Speaker after nearly the entire Democratic Caucus and sixteen wayward Republicans broke ranks to vote for Joe Straus, a two-term Republican from San Antonio.

Craddick won reelection to his House seat in the general election on November 2, 2010. Straus then won a second term as Speaker in January 2011. Two other Republicans, Leo Berman from Tyler and Warren Chisum from Pampa unsuccessfully sought to challenge Straus for the position.

Speaker of the House controversy

Craddick became increasingly unpopular with not only Democrats but those of his own party, and many called for a new Speaker to be elected.

Chaos erupted in the Texas House of Representatives on Friday, May 25, 2007, when Representative Fred Hill, a Republican from Richardson, attempted to raise a question of privilege to remove Craddick from office, but Craddick refused to allow him to raise the question. The attempts to oust Craddick continued through the weekend as other Republicans made additional motions, which were also disallowed for a time, although ultimately successful.

The last previous Texas House speaker to be removed was also a Republican, Ira Hobart Evans, who was rejected in 1871 for cooperating with Democrats on an elections bill.

Craddick's close allies, such as Representative Phil King of Weatherford, said that the actions against the Speaker were an effort by Democrats to gain control of the legislature before the legislative and congressional redistricting process of 2011. However, Representative Byron Cook, a Republican from Corsicana, said that the fight was about Craddick having consolidated power with lobbyists and having used campaign contributions to maintain control in the House: "This is about the convergence of money and power and influence," Cook said.

Specifically, Craddick recessed the Legislature for two and a half hours after Representatives attempted to gain recognition to put the question of Craddick's removal to a vote. When Representative Hill asked to vote to remove Mr. Craddick, the Speaker replied: "The Speaker's power of recognition on any matter cannot be appealed."

His parliamentarian, Denise Davis disagreed, stating that question of privilege relating to the removal of a Speaker from office is such a highly privileged one that even the leader may not refuse. When Craddick shunned her advice, Davis and her assistant, Chris Griesel, resigned. Craddick immediately hired former Representative Terry Keel of Austin to the post as well as former Representative (and present-day lawyer) Ron Wilson as Keel's assistant.

After calling the recess, Democratic Representative Garnet Coleman of Houston called the speaker "Chicken Craddick."

The session resumed until 1 a.m. and despite further protests from members of the legislature, Craddick remained in his position as Speaker, and the session was recessed.

Personal life

Thomas Craddick is married to the former Nadine Nayfa, a native of Sweetwater in west Texas. She is of Lebanese descent. In addition to their daughter Christi, the couple has a son, Thomas, Jr., and a grandson, Thomas Russell Craddick, III. Craddick holds BBA and MBA degrees from the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University. He lists his occupation as a sales representative for Mustang Mud, an oilfield supply company, although he also is a real estate speculator and developer.

Since the early 1970s, Craddick's next-door neighbor has been Ernest Angelo, the former mayor of Midland who in 1976 was one of three Texas co-chairmen in the Ronald W. Reagan campaign to wrest the Republican presidential nomination from Gerald R. Ford, Jr., successful in Texas but defeated in a moderately close vote at the national convention held in Kansas City, Missouri. Craddick and Angelo are godparents to each other's children. Clifford Angelo, youngest of the Angelo children, was hired while attending the University of Texas in Austin as a legislative aide to Craddick.